NVGIC

The Dutch Pancreatitis Study Group is a collaboration between surgeons, gastroenterologists, radiologists and intensivists interested in chronic and acute pancreatitis. The purpose of our group is to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with acute and chronic pancreatitis by a combination of centralization, consultation and multicenter trials.

History

In 2002 the department of Surgery at the UMC Utrecht took the initiative to form the Dutch Acute Pancreatitis Study Group. Chairman of this study group has since been professor Hein Gooszen, surgeon. The first physician-researcher was Marc Besselink (PROPATRIA trial), he graduated in 2008 with distinction on his thesis "Prevention and Intervention Strategies in Acute Pancreatitis”. He was followed in 2004 by Hjalmar van Santvoort (PANTER trial), who defended his thesis with distinction as well, "Acute pancreatitis: new frontiers in diagnosis and treatment", in 2010. Also in 2004, Thomas Bollen, became the radiologist of the working group. Since then three new physician-researchers started: in 2006 Olaf Bakker (PYTHON trial), in 2009 Sandra van Brunschot  (TENSION trial) and in 2010 Stefan Bouwense (PONCHO trial). 

In 2007 the study group decided to start researching chronic pancreatitis as well. The name of the group changed to Dutch Pancreatitis Study Group. The first physician-researcher in the field of chronic pancreatitis was Usama Ahmed Ali.  He has started in 2008 and established the prospective registration for chronic pancreatitis patients (CARE). The first chronic pancreatitis trial (ESCAPE trial) has started in 2011. Yama Issa joined the group as a physician-researcher in 2010 and will continue the research on chronic pancreatitis.

From 2002 to 2009 the Datacenter of the study group was located in the UMC Utrecht. On January 1st, 2010 the datacenter moved to the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in Nijmegen. Until 2011 the chronic pancreatits datacenter will remain in the UMC Utrecht.

The studies of the working group are funded by various grants. Till today eleven grants were obtained. By ZonMW (AGIKO, efficiency (3x)), SenterNovem (Technological Cooperation), University of Utrecht/NWO (MOZAIEK), MLDS (4x), NutsOhra (TENSION trial) and Nutricia Netherlands (PYTHON trial). There are also opportunities to support the working group trough donations (see donations).

Since mid-2004 the working group sends a monthly newsletter by email to hundreds of people interested in our work. In this newsletter the progress of ongoing studies is discussed and the latest findings in pancreatitis are presented.

In the first eight years of its existence the group has published over 55 articles in journals like The New England Journal Of Medicine, The Lancet, Annals of Surgery and The British Journal of Surgery.